Google Fiber disagreed with Communications Workers of America that one-touch, make-ready pole-attachment procedures in Louisville led to "dangerous mistakes" by contractors (see 1805250014). "CWA echoes the unsubstantiated claims made by Comcast, Charter, and NCTA ... by similarly failing to show that the errors depicted in the photographs attached to their ex parte notice were the result of OTMR or even caused by the use of third party contractors," filed Google, posted Tuesday in docket 17-84. "That, at some point, errors were made by someone in performing make-ready work does not implicate the safety and efficiency of a well-structured OTMR regime." CWA argues the risks "can only be resolved by allowing existing attachers to self-perform simple make-ready before a new attacher has the opportunity to undertake OTMR. But this argument does not follow," Google said. "Allowing self-performance would do nothing more than undermine the entire purpose of OTMR -- which is to increase safety and improve efficiency by reducing unnecessary trips to the pole that increase risks to people and property, create unneeded disruption to streets and sidewalks, and impose excessive and unpredictable costs on new competitive entrants." It said the organization's concerns are best addressed by requiring pole-owner OK of contractors, with input from existing attachers, as proposed by the Broadband Deployment Advisory Committee. The union didn't comment Wednesday.

The FCC issued an NPRM on curbing intercarrier compensation "arbitrage" schemes that stimulate access charges. The notice released Tuesday was adopted unanimously Monday and withdrawn from the agenda for Thursday's commissioners' meeting (see 1806050057). It had no commissioner statements and appeared to be virtually the same as a draft. The FCC proposed to eliminate financial incentives for arbitrage by giving "access-stimulating LECs" two choices for connecting to long-distance carriers (interexchange carriers or IXCs), said the text in docket 18-155: "First, an access-stimulating LEC can choose to be financially responsible for calls delivered to its network so it, rather than IXCs, pays for the delivery of calls to its end office or the functional equivalent. Or, second, instead of accepting this financial responsibility, an access-stimulating LEC can choose to accept direct connections either from the IXC or an intermediate access provider of the IXC’s choice, allowing IXCs to bypass intermediate access providers selected by the access-stimulating LEC." A diagram on page 6 depicting the possible arrangements wasn't in the draft. The notice sought comment on a similar but broader CenturyLink proposal: "Rather than focusing on access-stimulating LECs, CenturyLink recommends shifting financial responsibility to any LEC that declines to accept a request for direct interconnection for the purpose of terminating access traffic." Alternatively, the FCC sought comment "on moving all traffic bound for an access-stimulating LEC to bill-and-keep" (zero payments). It asked whether to revise its "access stimulation" definition and on other alleged "arbitrage schemes and ways to eradicate" them. AT&T applauded the review of "wasteful and ongoing access stimulation schemes which hurt consumers by driving up market costs." The telco and others proposed "a framework by which access stimulators would bear the financial responsibility for their activities, which the FCC includes in this [NPRM]," said Executive Vice President Joan Marsh Wednesday.

The clock is ticking on AWS-3 licensee build-out requirements, and licensees generally agree about longer initial license terms and later build-out deadlines, though not about who should get them, in docket FCC 18-104 comments. They were due Tuesday to a Wireless Bureau inquiry on possible extensions of up to three years, 12-year license terms and associated build-out requirements (see 1804060060). Federal agencies likely are sticking to plans for relocating from the bands, since there were no updates since May 2017, T-Mobile said. A servicewide extension isn't warranted, and the FCC instead should make any extensions specific to geographic areas and spectrum where there's evidence agencies can't relocate, it said. CTIA said there should be three-year extensions for licensees that entered market-specific coordination requests in the early entry portal system but were subsequently denied because the federal system hadn't transitioned out. It said most AWS-3 licenses expire April 2027, but "a large portion" of federal operations aren't expected to relocate until 2025, and many AWS-3 licenses have interim build-out requirements due in April 2021. It said three more years would ensure licensees have time after the expected 2025 clearing to start network deployment. Blue Ridge Wireless also pointed to government relocation timeframes in calling for a three year delay. 2014 AWS Spectrum Bidco, with AWS-3 licenses in the 1695-1710 MHz band, said extension for all would give more time for government relocation in some bands and coexistence mechanism development in others. It said government users won't be relocating operations from the unpaired A1 and B1 blocks of 1695-1710 MHz, and there needs to be development of long-term coexistence plans, and talks with NOAA produced progress and raised questions requiring lengthy technical analysis. AWS-3 licensees Chester Telephone, FTC Management Group and Sandhill Communications encouraged three more years. They said agencies "appear to be working diligently" on relocation, but that process and requirements such as accepting interference from federal operations until those operations vacate the band has slowed commercial AWS deployment. Those plus rural challenges such as shortage of tower collation opportunities mean there's less time for meeting "already challenging buildout deadlines," they said.

FCC commissioners were trying to resolve differences on some agenda items for Thursday's monthly meeting, an official told us Wednesday. "We’re working with our colleagues to see what we can achieve with items on the agenda, though there’s always a potential for disagreements." Asked if there were likely to be any major brawls or dissents, an aide to Commissioner Mike O'Rielly emailed, “I don’t see anything major.” Four items were deleted from the agenda Tuesday after being adopted on circulation (see 1806050057), but the remaining eight seem likely to stick: on high-band spectrum for 5G, telecom service discontinuance processes, rural telco broadband USF contribution relief, 8YY access charges, text-enabled toll-free numbers, slamming and cramming, IP captioned telephone service and revisiting cable leased access.

House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said he's “disturbed” by a report Tuesday that said the FCC pushed a false narrative that the system had also been victim of a cyberattack three years previously, when dealing last spring with what it said was a distributed denial-of-service attack on its electronic commenting filing system (see 1705100062). The FCC didn't comment now. Pallone said Gizmodo shows “a concerted effort by FCC employees to mislead the public in the lead up to its vote to repeal” 2015 net neutrality rules. GAO in October began an independent review of FCC DDoS claims after a request by Pallone and Senate Communications Subcommittee ranking member Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii (see 1708170042 and 1710130052). Chairman Ajit Pai told Pallone, Schatz and other lawmakers a “non-traditional” DDoS attack hit the ECFS but the FCC declined to provide details on plans to protect the system (see 1706280044 and 1707310071). Pallone said Tuesday he's "call[ing] on [Pai] to ensure the FCC fully cooperates with” GAO's investigation. Gizmodo said the Office of Media Relations and FCC former Chief Information Officer David Bray in 2017 alleged the agency's commenting system ran into trouble in 2014 due to DDoS attack when there was no independent proof. Bray, who left the agency last year, didn't comment.

A pair of non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellite applications, an NPRM targeting access charge arbitrage in intercarrier compensation and an enforcement item that had been on Thursday's meeting agenda (see 1805160051) were approved in advance, the FCC said Tuesday. Advance approval of some items on Thursday's notably long agenda was seen possible (see 1806030001). The Audacy and O3b NGSO applications -- for Audacy's three satellites that would be a space-based data relay constellation for other NGSO satellites and on U.S. market access for O3b broadband satellites -- was expected to pass (see 1805170062). The wireline NPRM aimed at curbing intercarrier compensation arbitrage seeks comment on giving LECs stimulating access charges two options for connecting to long-distance carriers (see 1805170060). The enforcement item was a proposed $2.8 million fine for unlawful drone transmitters (see 1806050066).

The FCC issued a notice of inquiry Tuesday on creating a C4 FM class, likely indicating an eventual rule on the matter isn’t an agency priority, a broadcast attorney told us. Though the NOI seeks comment on creating the new class, the agency likely would have to issue an NPRM before proceeding to an order, the attorney said. When Chairman Ajit Pai in February announced that a C4 item had been circulated on the eighth floor, he described it as an NPRM (see 1802060049). A C4 class would allow owners of Class A FM stations to upgrade their stations, and was first suggested by Pai before he was appointed chairman. Since the C4 stations would have primary status, some broadcasters worried the new class would threaten the many translators authorized under the Pai-supported AM revitalization (see 1802140060). “We would be reluctant to adopt any proposal in this area that would have a significantly negative impact on FM translators and LPFM stations,” the NOI said in two places. The NOI seeks comment on how the new class could work without impacting translators, and without increasing the noise floor on the FM band. The full commission, including outgoing Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, approved the NOI (see 1805180042).

Recent FCC and DOJ commentary "bodes well" for regulatory OK of T-Mobile buying Sprint, with more clarity coming soon, Macquarie Research wrote investors Tuesday. After a speech last week, Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim reportedly told journalists he sees no magic number of carriers for the wireless market, and FCC Chairman Ajit Pai earlier indicated he would "keep an open mind on wireless consolidation," the analysts said. The market is "clearly competitive," the analysts said, with Comcast adding 577,000 Xfinity mobile subscribers in about 10 months, Charter Communications slated to launch wireless service in 2018 and Altice and Cox doing likewise in 2019. The American Antitrust Institute said T-Mobile/Sprint should be dead on arrival at the Justice Department because it would create an oligopoly. It “would further reduce the number of rivals from four to three, stoking even higher concentration in the national U.S. wireless market and contributing to growing concerns over a broader systemic decline in competition, market entry, and equality in the U.S. economy,” AAI said Tuesday. An AT&T executive last week said the carrier is unlikely to oppose the combination (see 1805300037). T-Mobile didn't comment.

FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said he's “raising the bar” on his expectations for the Advisory Committee on Diversity and Digital Empowerment. That was part of remarks Monday at the committee’s supplier diversity workshop. The workshop paired communications industry companies with minority-owned suppliers and service providers. Pai praised the committee for taking concrete action quickly to improve diversity by creating the event. “Now that I’ve seen what you can do, I’m adjusting my expectations,” he said. Pai expects the committee to “make more real-world connections for small businesses, including those owned by women and minorities” and make “recommendations on how to bring more diversity to Silicon Valley,” he said. “We expected tangible results,” Pai said. “Today’s event is a tangible result.”

The FCC shouldn't eliminate FM subcaps or incentivize broadcast incubators with ownership waivers but should be more robust in enforcing equal employment opportunity and pirate radio rules, said the National Association of Black Owned Broadcasters and the Multicultural Media, Telecom and Internet Council in meetings Wednesday with Chairman Ajit Pai, Commissioner Mike O’Rielly, aides to Commissioners Jessica Rosenworcel and Brendan Carr, and Media Bureau Chief Michelle Carey, said a filing posted Monday in docket 14-50. The FCC should consider eliminating only AM subcaps, “which could encourage more AM ownership,” MMTC and NABOB said. “Elimination of the FM subcap would lead to a rapid deterioration in the AM service and undermine the Commission’s AM revitalization efforts.” The agency is seen likely to relax subcap rules as part of the upcoming 2018 quadrennial review (see 1805220053). If the FCC lets companies that incubate new entrants into broadcasting receive ownership waivers, it “would be certain to embroil the program in the media structural ownership litigation,” the groups said. The FCC can act to eliminate cronyism by better enforcement of EEO rules, the groups said. “The agency should reform its audit program so it can verify that hiring decisions are made after jobs are posted, and not before.” The FCC should pursue legislation granting it more power to enforce the rules against unlicensed broadcasting, said MMTC and NABOB. “The Commission should make it clear that it will enforce the law equally throughout the nation regardless of the race of a neighborhood’s residents.”